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8/27/2012

Some of you should already know that I've revealed myself on Tinychat on the 24th of August, with an one-hour delay. Which isn't important at all.

Five people came (and I mean five in total, not at once), which was a pretty huge surprise for me, as I haven't expected anyone at all.

Okay, so why am I still here? I guess that's because I wanna clarify some things, such as what did I mean with saying, 'custom' poses and why did I decide to review myself.

For those who are still questioning my real identity, I am Nika, a.k.a. Princess_Kiara1. Surprised?

I thought people will be quick to find out the name behind 'the reviewer', mainly because of my poor vocabulary and grammar, which is the one thing I can't hide, or can I?

I literally tried everything to cover up my identity, I came up with one of the simplest and least appealing blog layouts ever, used one of the least appealing fonts I've seen, even GD-reviews, the Stardoll account, looked nothing like my doll. But I have to admit I should've pointed out the similarities between GD-reviews and momijigal911 before anyone (Kirsten) started to think that Megan is the reviewer. That was when I started to feel bad.

Anyways, let's get to the point now, what did I mean with saying custom poses?

Some people are still confused with the term "custom poses", I guess that's because I never made it clear what I meant with saying it (obviously), and because I kind of started off with the wrong term and never really thought about replacing it with a clearer one. So basically, custom poses was, well, at least in my head, the same as poses from scratch. It did not mean any kind of advanced poses - different angles, bent legs, bent anything, etc., it simply meant poses that have been made free handedly, without using reference pictures to track over, anything the term "from scratch" covers, really.

Why did I decide to review myself?

I liked the idea because I thought it would kind of help me to cover up my real identity, if you get what I mean. Like, it would, in other people's eyes, lessen the chances of GD-reviews being me, Nika, if that makes more sense.

However, I wasn't the author of my own review. The author was Khol, Hollyoaksrocks*, and I suppose she's comfortable with her name being put on this blog. She offered to review me because I complained about having a tough time while reviewing myself. However, because her review ended up being too short and the score was as high as 97%, I decided to lenghten it a bit and to add more negative points to help me lower the score. The final product was, despite my editing, based sorely on her original review, I didn't add anything to flatter myself, in fact, I removed some of the sentences that expressed too much of flattery.

One thing I'm pretty sure about is that this blog has no tomorrow. I'd never be able to review people from the same aspect because I just do not feel comfortable with criticising people who might even be my friends, it makes me seem like I think of myself super highly, as in being above everyone else, it's just not fair.

And if you've got any further questions, let me know in the comments and I will update this post/reply to your comment. That's it for now.

Call me crazy, call me pathetic, feel free to call me an attention whore(even though it wouldn't make much sense, don't you think?), I really do not care. Haters gonna hate, you know.

7/27/2012

My next topic is none other than the graphic designer of FEMME magazine, Nika Pokerzhnik, better known as Princess_Kiara1. A lot of people claim she is one of the best graphic designers on Stardoll, but does she live up to what people claim her to be?

Two recent graphics:

Review:

Straight away you can tell how much hard work and dedication she puts into her graphics! A lot of her graphics seem to be made from scratch, which is very impressive. Even her first pose from scratch wasn't too much of a fail, except of the hands being a tad too small. Her shading technique in general tends to differ from the most, which sometimes makes her graphics look not Stardoll-like. Her skin shading technique is somewhat balanced and not as basic as it may seem at first glance! If we take a look on the top right graphic, we can see how much work was put into the knee area. As perfect as her graphics may seem, they're not. The shading on model's left leg is oddly exaggerated below her knee, and everything seems like Nika is facing trouble when it comes to shading flowy, loose clothes! You can see how fake the dress' sleeves look on the top left picture, and how odd the bottom part looks. Flowy garments are her weak point, and she's even written an equal statement on her blog. The amount of detail she adds to her graphics is breath taking, but sometimes her shading can be a little too dark and messed up. For backgrounds, she usually uses Stardoll interiors or gradients.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve?

Theres nothing really to criticize other than the shading could be a tad lighter, and to tidy things up a little. I'd love to see you start doing backgrounds from scratch! Practice clothes, especially dresses!

In my sixth review, I will observe Kasey Noelle, who is the third out of four people to be reviewed today. She got second in the first cycle of SDNTGD and also won the top photo a time or two. She is also a regular contributor of The Vault and is having her birthday in eleven days! Let this review begin!

Two recent graphics:

Review:
Kasey's graphics have been getting better and better. I admire her hair designs and I believe many people envy her for being so good with hair. However, she is one of those whose skin shading technique is rather basic. On the 14 graphic above, for example, shoulders shouldn't be as thickly shaded as the rest of her arms, and a very slight muscle definition on the upper part of her arms would look pretty good! Kasey's shading technique in general is somewhat balanced, the lowlights can be too dark and highlights are barely visible, but it works for her. She has made a custom pose in the past, and it didn't turn out too well, with proportions being off for the most part. But she is, without a doubt, very good when it comes to shading clothes. One thing I'd like to address is a common mistake of graphic designers. If you take a look at the top left picture, you'll see how much darker, or shall I say dirtier the fingers look, compared to the face? That is because they are over shaded, fingers do not need a lot of shading, they look fine with a couple of layers of low-lights on the "bottom side", if you know what I mean, and a couple of lighlights on the top. Also, the nose bridge looks there pretty flat. It is cool and in a strange way it even works, but it is not realistic.
She often designs her own backgrounds, which are usually gradients or patterns.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve?
Kasey, get familiar with anatomy and proportions, and stun us with an amazing custom pose! And no flat nose bridges, please. ;=)

7/26/2012

Second out of four requested reviews is the review of Sparklewand12. Kirsten started off with a swimwear line called Tidal and was later on chosen as a contestant for the first cycle of SDNTGD and ended up on fifth place. With help of SDNTGD's judges and a lot of practicing, she has improved a lot indeed, but the real question is, how good is she now?

Two recent graphics:

Review:

On the first sight, her graphics look rather amazing. Her skin shading technique is balanced, but very basic. On the top right graphic, for example, we can see that a highlight goes in a pretty much straight line with the same "thickness" and opacity all the way down her arm, thus it looks rather unrealistic. Her technique of drawing and shading hair seems to have improved a lot, it is alright now, but the hair still does not look like she spent a lot of time on it, it isn't very detailed. I can tell she tries to shade her clothes the way they would reflect light in reality, but sometimes she fails, and the shading turns out rather odd. When it comes to shading the neck area, the shading looks very blurry, almost like it was done in a hurry. Highlights are supposed to be there, too, but they do not make much sense when they are misplaced. Her backgrounds are always white(or any other solid color).

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve?

First thing I'd probably recommend is to keep on improving, obviously. Work on your shading technique in general and do not always choose the same model - yourself. Choose models with lighter and darker skin, as weird as it may sound, I feel like you've gotten too acclimatized on a specific skin tone, which is not always a good thing.

Also, I'd like you to get more risky with your selection of clothes. If I was you, I'd find some good reference pictures and practice drawing and shading - clothes and hair.

When it comes to shading a neck, it is better to stick to a basic shading (maybe even Stardoll's?) and draw the collarbones, than to completely change up the shading and make it blurry and odd-looking.

Try to incorporate some bright colors into your graphics and do not stick to pastels, greys and whites. They might be trendy, but too much of them can make a graphic look plain, or even sad!

And last, but not least - your models are always makeupless. Give makeup a chance!
I'd love to see some graphics from scratch, but I think you may not be ready for those yet.

The first one out of the requested four to be reviewed is Lige07, a.k.a. Lige Scene! He dropped out of the first cycle of SDNTGD and is now contestant of the present, second cycle. Many people are rooting for this young graphic designer, but is he really that good?

Two recent graphics:

Review:

Lige seems to be one out of barely any graphic designers, who nowadays actually pay attention to detail. The blouse detailing on the top right graphic is gorgeous, and look at that bag on the left! Yet his graphics often have flat parts, parts with barely any dimension. For example, if we take a look at the graphic on the right - notice, how much flatter the blouse looks when compared to model's legs? The hair design is gorgeous, yet it looks like he didn't spend much time on it's shape. He barely ever seems to additionally highlight/shade his model's faces or draw on some makeup. I haven't come across any of his custom poses either.

His skin shading technique always seemed to be unbalanced, with many, too many layers of low-lights and barely, if any at all, highlights. However, on his latest graphic he seems to have improved. As his graphics are always entirely based off of real life images, he shades clothes just like they would reflect light in reality, which can be a good or a bad thing. As a background, he often uses plain colors or Stardoll interiors.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve:

Lige, I'd love to see at least a few custom poses coming from you! And graphics, made completely from scratch would be amazing, too!

Yes, Lige does take requests and his prices might be quite unaffordable for some people. He would charge you 50 Stardollars just for a headshot and as much as 370 Stardollars for three MeDolls with background and text in a .psd file format. For more detail, feel free to click HERE.

7/24/2012

Today I checked my guestbook, and I saw a reader who goes by the nickname afrin_98. They requested a review of two graphic designers - sparklewand12 and princess_kiara1!

You should definitely let me know in the comments whether you agree with her and want me to review both of them, or not, because I certainly see no point of making reviews that no one wants to read.

You can also request a review of someone else or even yourself (like conectt3 did)! BUT, I will not publish any reviews today. I will review the most requested GD's tomorrow or in two days, which means I will obviously try to fulfill as many of your requests as I can.

7/22/2012

My very next victim is the french graphic designer, owner of Victor&Klaus and a contestant of the second cycle of SDNTGD, LadyGagaMcQueen a.k.a. Amanda Lucy! She's started off with writer banners for Beg For More and went onto designing her own fashion line, Victor&Klaus! Let's take a look at her graphics, shall we?

Two recent graphics:

Review:

My honest opinion of her graphics would be, they're nothing special, but damn, look at her SDNTGD task entry above! Now that's something decent, isn't it? She seems to do a good job when it comes to recreating real-life images (poses, clothes), but sadly it looks like she is facing trouble when drawing clothes off of scratch, such as for her fashion line (top left graphic). Clothes look very basic, there is no or barely any folds to make them look more realistic, while on the top right graphic, which is a real-life recreation, we can see how well she pulled off the folds in clothes. Her hair designs are basic, nothing surplus. Looking all the way through her blog, I even found an old graphic, portraying what seems to be a custom pose, and it wasn't that good. But hey, at least she gave it a try! Amanda's skin shading technique is unbalanced, with some lowlights but no clearly visible highlights. She usually creates backgrounds by herself, but sometimes uses Stardoll's interiors as well.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve?

Practice clothes! Try to put folds into your own designs to get rid of that plastic feel! I'd also recommend you to try out different hair designs and structures! Loose curls, buns, plaits, try a bit of everything! When shading skin, increase the opacity of highlights to balance out your shading technique. Try to draw custom poses, you can take a photo of yourself or anybody else and use it as a reference picture, if needed.

Blog link?

http://ladygagamcqueen.blogspot.com/

Do they provide graphic tutorials?

No, Amanda Lucy does not provide any graphic tutorials.

Do they take requests?

Yes, Amanda Lucy takes requests and your best bet is to contact her through her guestbook. My guess is that her prices depend on complexity of your request.

The second one to be ripped onto shreds is none other than the stupendous winner of the first cycle SDNTGD, ladies and gentlemen, Lindsey Le'Vogue! But are her graphics really as flawless as they seem?

Two recent graphics:

Review:

On the very first sight, her graphics seem almost flawless. But if we dig deeper, we can actually spot a flaw or two.

While her hair designs do not lack detail and are amazingly structured (but often look like they're all the same style, thoguh), her models seem to have an oddly low hairline! She doesn't seem to have ever made a custom pose, as well she lacks anatomy knowledge. Collarbones seem to be one of her weakest spots; they're often too exaggerated and thick. The V shaped lines that go often up her models' necks (top right graphic, the USD banner) always make me wonder, "what is that"? However, she barely ever fails to shade clothes properly, her clothing-shading skills are amazing and we all shall applaud her for the good work! Her skin shading technique is pretty basic, there are barely any layers of highlights, but it works for her. She often uses Stardoll's interiors and Scenery templates as a background, which has lately been a popular trend.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve:

Draw slimmer collarbones, and no V's, please! Try to draw some custom poses, other than that, your graphics are very good!

Yes, Lindsey Le'Vogue has made a few very helpful tutorials in the past! To access them on her YouTube Channel, click HERE.

Do they take requests?

Yes, Lindsey Le'Vogue does take graphic requests and she also seems to be very reliable! Her prices vary between 5 and 225 Stardollars, prices for custom graphics vary depending on complexity (my guess). There is no information provided whether she accepts payment in Starcoins or not. For more info, click HERE.

7/21/2012

I decided to start off with a seemingly very busy graphic designer, Doggy_Starpuppy, whose real name is Julie Carol, but often refers to herself as Harley Quinn. Why so, still puzzles me.

Two recent graphics:

Review:
Her graphics do not seem to be anything special and often lack attention to detail. She does not seem to have a well balanced shading technique; model's legs in the very first shown graphic are over-highlighted and not shaded at all, which is and looks wrong in so many ways. Models' faces do, color-wise, not match their body, which is very sloppy and could easily be fixed with use of the Color Picker Tool! Hair seems to be one of her weakest points as she always draws the same kind of a hairstyle, yet still fails to make it look Stardoll like. Another disappointmet, she does not seem to work or have any experience with custom poses, everything seems to be a re-designed magazine page. My very first impression when I took a look at a few thumbnails of her graphics was quite good, however, it was ruined as soon as I zoomed in. As a background, she often uses compositions and interiors off of Stardoll, which lately seems to be trending. Depending on the fact that she does possess a pen tablet, she could do much more.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve:

Try to balance out your shading technique, girl! Two, three layers at maximum of highlights and about the same amount of lowlights shall do the job! Barely anybody can make shiny graphics work! Try to make a custom pose and hit me up with it, try to look for a tutorial if you face any trouble. To match model's body color with her face color, try using the colorpicker tool, which is available everywhere - even in Paint! Try different hair styles!

Do they provide graphic tutorials?
No, Julie Carol does not provide tutorials in any shape or form.

Do they take requests?

Yes, Julie Carol takes requests! Her prices vary between 20 and 30 Stardollars and are negotiable. The also accepts payment in Starcoins and takes custom requests (which she charges depending on complexity). For more info, click HERE.

RATE

Improvement: 2/10

First impression:8/10

Shading technique in general: 5/10

Proportions/Anatomy: 9/10

Custom poses:0/10

Hair:6/10

Medoll/face shading:1/10

Clothes shading: 7/10

Attention to detail:3/10

Background choice:9/10

Doggy_Starpuppy scored a total of 50 points, which is equal to 50%!Graphic level: Decent